Recollections
of 7th Battalion Leicestershire Regiment Chindits.
Frederick
(Fred) Robert Atton
7th Leicesters 47 Column 4864794
My Dad, Frederick
(Fred) Robert ATTON was born at 11am on November 11, 1911
( 11/11/11) before that date became famous!
He was raised
in Stamford Lincolnshire, left at 17 to move to Nottingham
where he worked in the hosiery trade. There he met my mother
Frances Emily Wells whom he married in 1937. In 1938 they
moved to Leicester for better work and purchased a semi
detatched house for 700 pounds. The other day an identical
house sold for 150,000 pounds.
He was enlisted
in the Leicestershire Regiment in 1940 and was placed in
the 7th Battalion. He then followed the path described on
the website and in James Wileman's booklet.
My mother has
photographs he took of Capetown and Durban on the way out
to India (1942) and the Suez Canal/ Port Said on the way
back to Liverpool (1945).
On the July 1942
team photograph of A Company, my Dad is 11th from the right
on the second row from the top.
My mother always
said the conditions in Burma meant he was ' never the same
"after the war. He had a series of surgeries on his
intestine and had to eat a very careful diet.
He continued
to work in Leicester in the hosiery trade as a shipping
manager and then the same job at a manufacturer of heavy
building machinery ( Frederick Parker Ltd) until he retired
in 1977.
He loved gardening
and intended to do lots of it in his retirement. However
in 1978 he had a stroke and was immobilised. He spent the
next five years at home being lovingly cared for by my mother
who is still alive at the age of 93. He died in 1983. She
lives in Canada close to my younger brother.
He was extremely
proud of having been a Chindit and talked of his job as
one of those who dropped supplies from Dakotas to the Chindits
on the ground. A modest. quiet man, he would answer questions
about his time in India/Burma but would never start the
conversation.
Attached is is
a photograph taken at Y Tank Camp at Bangalore. Date unknown
but probably in 1944.
My Dad is fifth
from the right on the top row.
Thanks very much
for this wonderful website which has helped me track an
important part of my Dad's life which was previously very
sketchy.
